One of those big ideas

One of the big changes in the auto industry that has gone largely unnoticed by the public is the increasing ability of tiny manufacturers to create, engineer, and put into production completely new designs. Many of these designs, such as those from Saleen, are more advanced than anything yet produced by any conventional auto maker.

This is a huge development. What once took a huge multinational corporation can now be done successfully by small, creative companies with a tiny fraction of the resources but a wealth of new ideas. While we've all been bemoaning the lack of great ideas in the big car companies, the great ideas have gone across the street, set up their own shop, and are turning out terrific new cars like the Saleen S7 and the Pagani Zonda.

The S7 and Zonda are both hyperexpensive supercars, both running well into six figures. But there's a conceptually simple way that this revolution in cutting-edge thinking and creative design could start turning out more everyday cars and provide the kind of worldwide support that regular car consumers expect. I'll have more in a future post.